After the scare of the Equifax credit data breach in September 2017, many consumers placed a freeze on their credit to prevent any unauthorized activity. However, prior to opening any new lines of credit, consumers must lift the credit freeze.

In a few U.S. states, credit freezes expire after seven years. In most states, however, credit freezes remain in place until the consumer lifts them. There are three procedures for lifting credit freezes:

One-time access authorizes a specific creditor to check the file one time

A temporary lift allows multiple creditors to access the file during a specified time period

Permanent removal opens credit reports until a new freeze is requested

If you are interested in removing or adding a freeze on your credit, you do so from the security/credit freeze pages of the three credit bureaus below: